NATIONAL

A white man driven by racial hatred shot dead three Black people in a Florida discount store Saturday before taking his own life after a standoff with police, authorities said.

US reporter Evan Gershkovich has appealed against a Russian court's decision to extend his pre-trial detention by three months, according to documents published by a Moscow court.

Trump will be arrested at Atlanta's notorious Fulton County Jail, accused of conspiring with 18 co-defendants to try to overturn the 2020 election result in the key southern state. The booking of the billionaire real estate tycoon comes just hours after he spurned a primary debate featuring eight of his rivals for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, and the other co-defendants have until noon (1600 GMT) Friday to surrender voluntarily to the charges they conspired to overturn the billionaire's election loss to Biden in Georgia.

The fires were the deadliest to hit the United States in a century, claiming at least 115 lives, according to the latest provisional death toll. The tourist town of Lahaina, home to 12,000 people, was all but wiped off the map, with thousands of missing persons appearing on lists maintained by various organizations, including the police, Red Cross and shelters.

The Republican White House hopefuls prepared to do battle in the first debate of the 2024 primary contest on Wednesday -- with Donald Trump set to upstage his rivals despite his decision not to show up.

Donald Trump said he will turn himself in on Thursday in Georgia to face racketeering and other charges stemming from his bid to overturn the 2020 election.

A Georgia judge approved a $200,000 bond for Donald Trump on Monday in the racketeering case filed against the former US president in the southern state.

Heavy rains lashed California on Sunday as Tropical Storm Hilary raced in from Mexico, bringing warnings of potentially life-threatening flooding in the typically arid southwestern United States.

President Joe Biden was heading to Hawaii on Monday to view the widespread damage from the recent Maui wildfires, meet with survivors and fend off political criticism that his government was too slow to respond to the disaster.

Climate change is forcing big and small changes to the American fishing industry as animals, fishermen and policymakers adjust to rising sea temperatures.

The head of Maui's emergency management agency -- who said this week he did not regret the decision to not sound powerful warning sirens as a deadly wildfire ripped through the Hawaiian town of Lahaina -- resigned Thursday.

The number of people known to have died in the horrific wildfire that levelled a Hawaiian town topped 100 Tuesday, the state's governor said, as a makeshift morgue was expanded to deal with the tragedy.

Donald Trump has been indicted four times this year but the latest charges -- in Georgia -- may carry particular peril for the former president.

Anger was growing Saturday over the official response to a horrific wildfire that levelled a Hawaiian town, killing at least 89 people as it consumed everything in its path.

The insurance industry is becoming increasingly sensitive to the effects of climate change on their businesses. Some insurers are reducing coverage or new policies in California and Florida. This raises difficult questions about the future of doing business in certain regions of the United States, too.

US economic growth and wage gains should "serve as a source of resilience" moving forward even if the economy continues to cool, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in remarks released Friday.

The US Justice Department on Friday escalated its investigation into President Joe Biden's son Hunter, naming a special counsel amid allegations he engaged in illicit business deals overseas.

Tourists fleeing Hawaii's deadly wildfire told Thursday how they had been trapped without food and power for days, but felt lucky to be escaping somewhere that "looks like a warzone."

Brushfires on the west coast of Hawaii's Maui island – fueled by high winds from a nearby hurricane – broke out Tuesday and rapidly engulfed the seaside town of Lahaina. The flames moved so quickly that many were caught off-guard, trapped in the streets or jumping into the ocean in a desperate bid to escape.

The death toll from a terrifying wildfire that razed a historic Hawaiian town is expected to rise "very significantly", the state's governor said Thursday, with 36 people already known to have perished.

"As the firefighting efforts continue, 36 total fatalities have been discovered today amid the active Lahaina fire. No other details are available at this time," Maui County officials said in a news release.

Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke issued an emergency proclamation and said the hospital system on the island of Maui "was overburdened with burn patients, people suffering from inhalation." Several desperate residents reportedly jumped into the ocean in a bid to escape the fast-moving flames.

Canadian rapper Tory Lanez, convicted of shooting US artist Megan Thee Stallion in the feet during a drunken argument after a Hollywood party, was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison.

Joe Biden used the backdrop of the Grand Canyon Tuesday to champion the climate fight -- and distinguish himself from the Republican right -- by designating large swathes of surrounding sacred land with protective status.

Millions of people were under severe weather alerts, including tornado watches, as rain, strong winds and hail swept east along nearly the entire eastern seaboard, from Alabama to New York.

Donald Trump pushed back on Monday against a bid by government lawyers to restrict what he can share publicly about his historic prosecution for allegedly conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

New York wants to introduce car-loving America's first congestion charge, but the move faces fierce opposition -- including from the city's famous yellow taxis.

A de facto ban on claiming asylum at the US southern border implemented in May in an effort to stem a feared influx of migrants can stay in place for now, a court said Thursday.